MTA Chairman Janno Lieber’s announcement that he is appointing former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Secretary Richard Davey to serve as the next New York City Transit president, effective May 2, is disappointing.
The job requires a good working knowledge of the agency organization, staff, operations, stations, yards and shops, other facilities, bus and subway car fleets, other equipment, customers needs, ongoing planning initiatives and navigating the difficult political landscape of New York City, City Hall and Albany. The portfolio also includes $40 billion worth of NYC Transit bus subway and Staten Island Railway capital projects within the MTA’s $54 billion 2020 – 2024 Five Year Capital Plan. There is little time for on-the-job training to run the nation’s largest subway and bus system.
Any good organization develops in-house talent by promoting from within. Lieber could have appointed current Acting NYC Transit President and Senior VP for Department of Subways Craig Cipriano (who has been serving as acting president since July 2021); Demetrius Crichlow, acting senior VP for Department of Subways; or any one of many other senior vice presidents within the NYC Transit Management Team as the next president of NYC Transit. It will take an outsider such as Davey many months to come up to speed in understanding such a complex system and operations.
Just like many of his predecessors brought in from the outside, watch how he will depart within a few years for the greener pastures of a higher salary at another transit agency, consulting firm or falls out of favor with the current governor and asked to leave.
Why didn’t Lieber have confidence in the ability of someone from within the NYC Transit management team already in place to fill this position on a permanent basis? It is an insult to the hardworking current NYC Transit management team, 55,000 employees and over 5 million pre COVID-19 riders not to have appointed someone from within NYC Transit.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office.
